Pacing and Leading

Ericksonian Hypnotic Language Patterns
In an expanded form, 'Pacing and Leading' can be used as a trance induction in and of itself. The general concept of pacing and leading is central to Erickson's work. You establish a rapport with a person when you pace their experience.

In this language pattern, you make note of true, experiential facts (or 'wonder' about them) then connect them with a suggestion. Salesmen might say that you are setting up a 'yes' frame. People will tend to go with the flow of affirmative responses.

I used this pattern frequently when I used to work at New York's Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital's Department of Complementary Medicine. I was there as a Hypnotherapist to assist people in feeling better about their operations, facilitate healing and recovery, develop new, healthier patterns of living (e.g. becoming a non-smoker) and to help manage pain. Often I would walk into the patient's room and say, "Hello, my name is Doug (easily verifiable due to the name tag on my lapel), I'm with the Department of Surgery (also on the tag), and I'm here to help you with your pain." The two verifiably true statements set up the following statement to be accepted as true, too. By the way, did you notice that the patient was not in a formal trance at the time?

Some Connecting Words or Phrases:

and, as, while, so, since, you can also, like, at the same time, such as, begin to, meanwhile, being, as you know, also, then, etc.

A. Basic form

"You can feel the chair, you can feel your feet on the floor, you can hear the sound of my voice, and drift off into a nice, comfortable trance."

B. 'Might notice...as...'

"You might notice the sensations in your hands as you being to drift deeper into trance."

C. 'Might notice how good...feels...as...'
(In many of these patterns it is always a good idea to suggest that they will enjoy whatever they're going to experience)

"You might notice how good it feels to relax deeply as you close your eyes and breathe comfortably."

So now as you read these words and make sense of the material, you can stop and imagine how you will use these language patterns in your professional life.

By the way, as you read these posts regarding Ericksonian Language patterns, and appreciate the persuasive power their use can offer you, consider taking a pad and paper and writing out your own examples that you can actually use in your own life.

As an example, if you're a dentist, write out twenty examples of things you can say to your patients to get them to floss more often. Or to make them feel more comfortable in the dentist chair. Or to get them to come to the dentist every six months for regular check ups.

Find the situations in YOUR life where you desire more influence and write out language patterns IN ADVANCE of the situation so that you can be ready to USE THEM when that situation presents itself.

You'll be glad you did.

Traveling Hypnosis Medicine Show

View from the balcony of the Camelot Hotel at Myrtle Beach, SC.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about working for John Morgan Seminars and traveling the country and doing 2 hour Hypnosis programs for weight loss and smoking cessation is that they actually work. Years ago I taught, in my hypnosis classes, of the superiority of private sessions because they were tailored to the individual. Basically I thought that large scale group hypnosis did not work and was essentially a rip off.

I was wrong.

For some people I believe group hypnosis programs work better than private sessions because of the added leverage of public commitment. Maybe, in some or even most cases, individual sessions might work even better, but I've discovered that when done right, large scale, group hypnosis does work. I get feedback about it all the time. Like just last week, we were putting on a program at the convention center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. A few hours before the seminar we were setting up the room and a gentleman stuck his head in the door and said Hello. He told us he'd been to our event in Parkersburg, WV, a few weeks earlier and was now 20 days smoke free and didn't even have any urges. He was here in Myrtle Beach at a convention for his industry and when he saw our sign felt compelled to come over and talk to us. He was extremely grateful and just wanted us to know. He said it was the best $69.95 he'd ever spent.

How cool is that?

Fact is our percentage of successful quitters is dizzingly high. I am sure the weight loss folk have a tougher time of achieving their goals but they do well too. What's great about it is that for most people attending these things, they have little or no prior experience with this sort of change work or even this sort of thinking. It really is quite revolutionary for them.

Credit goes to John Morgan for creating these most excellent 2 hour seminars. They utilize a variety of techniques to assist in people getting the change they desire... from traditional hypnosis to Ericksonian patterns to NLP anchoring techniques. I met John years ago at a Dave Dobson "Funshop" and he really put Dave's lessons to work, especially that "Pebble Kicking" thing we talked about a couple of weeks ago.

Me, I get to travel around, feel good about helping people, and stay in nice hotels like the one pictured. Plus, I can now order at Applebees without the need of a menu.
Does life get any better than that?

Negative Commands/Suggestions

Ericksonian Hypnotic Language Patterns

Negative Commands/Suggestions
Before we look further at this category of language pattern a quick word...
By the term "Negative Suggestion" we don't mean something nasty. We're not in the business of suggesting negative things to people, like suggesting to someone that their nose will fall off.
What we're instead doing is giving a positive suggestion hidden within something that sounds like you're not saying that.
Confused? Great. So glad I could help.

Maybe this will be better...
The brain doesn't compute negations. If you say to someone, "Don't think of the color purple," what do you suppose they begin to think about? What color are you thinking about? So you can direct your listener's attention by saying "don't do" exactly what you'd like them to do.

A. Don't _____too quickly (or too soon)...

"Don't use these language patterns too soon to empower others now.

"Don't go into a trance too quickly, Monde."


B. I wouldn't tell you to _______, because...
(more about the word 'because' in future entries.)

"I wouldn't tell you to practice these patterns everyday, because you might just get too good.'

"I wouldn't tell you to go into a trance now, because it's important for you to discover for yourself how quickly or slowly is right for you."


C. I could tell you that_____ but...

"I could tell you that learn these patterns will be far easier and fun than you probably imagine, but I would rather let you enjoy that discovery yourself."

This is another great way to avoid resistance. (Note also that in this example we have sacrificed correct grammar so the sake of a good command.)

Now, I wouldn't tell you to write your own examples, because as you discover your best way of learning, you'll know the best way to learn is by doing. Write them out. Practice. Say them aloud to a human being with the proper tonal shift.

I could tell you to go out there and use them, but I know you'd rather see for yourself.

Pebble Kicking

Neo-Ericksonian Approaches to Psychotherapy & Hypnosis

One of the major principles of doing therapeutic work I learned from Dave Dobson is the idea of "Pebble Kicking."

What is Pebble Kicking? Well, I'm reminded of a story. Actually, a couple of stories.

The first story is about a Spiritual Teacher who was walking with one of his disciples along the banks of a river on their way to a hootenanny. (That might not be the correct term for a gathering of spiritual types, but you know what I mean.)

Along their way they came upon a group of young kids who were skipping stones into the river. The teacher, never one to pass up an opportunity to teach young boys a lesson, produced from the pocket of his robes a beautiful stone. It was perfect in every way. Gorgeous color, gorgeous shine, with a rounded flat surface perfect for skipping.

The boys oohed and ahhed over it like it was a precious gem. Then, without saying a word, the teacher turned and threw the rock over the water in a low arc that caused it to skip more than a dozen times before it slipped into the water and disappeared.

The boys were incredulous that he would throw away such a beautiful stone and stood dumbfounded for a moment. The teacher was about to start speaking about the lesson to be learned here, but before he got a word out, the boys all started speaking at once, asking if they found it, could they keep it. The teacher chuckled, thinking they'd soon see the futility of this quest, and said "yes, I suppose so, but..." and with that they all ran into the water and began diving down trying to find the stone. After watching them for a few minutes they continued on their way, leaving the boys to their task.

Hours later, as the men were returning from their journey, they came to the place where the stone skipping had taken place. There remained just one boy still diving into the waves. Amazingly, just as the men arrived at the spot, the boy surfaced excitedly with the stone in his hand! "I found it! I found it! Can I really keep it?"

The teacher smiled warmly and said. "Yes, of course. It now belongs to you. You have earned it."

The child ran off totally thrilled as the disciple looked at the teacher and said, "That was your lesson all along wasn't it? You wanted to teach them the value of perseverance and hard work."

The teacher blushed and said, "No, not at all. The lesson I had intended was one of the transience of material things, and that everything, even the most beautiful rock, was temporal in nature. But I guess the lesson of perseverance was the one he needed to learn."

The second story is of New York based Psychotherapist and Ericksonian Hypnotherapist, Susan Lee Bady. She was delivering a talk to NYSEPH (New York Society for Ericksonian Psychotherapy and Hypnosis) regarding the integration of Ericksonian Hypnotic techniques with traditional hypnotic techniques.

She described a situation with a client who had cancer. She ascertained what his condition was and what he was hoping to gain from his session with her. With this information she began to weave a beautiful therapeutic metaphor rich with imagery of undersea gardens, dolphins and peaceful, healing suggestions. After she finished her story and reoriented him to waking consciousness, she asked him how he felt. He told he that, while he found her words very nice and agreeable, he was really hoping she'd say something about how he was going to be fine and heal from the cancer. So she said, "OK, close your eyes. Drift back to the undersea garden. Feel the healing energy there and know that that means you are going to be fine and heal from the cancer."

At this point she saw him take a deep breath and relax comfortably.

She continued her talk by reporting that he responded well to their session and was recovering from cancer, so that meant that that direct hypnotic suggestion she had offered him, using his words exactly, really did the trick.

Just then a hand went up in the front row. Dr. Sydney Rosen had a question. Now, at NYSEPH, Dr. Rosen is a revered figure, as well he should be. He has served as their President, is a respected Psychotherapist and is the author of "My Voice Will Go With You," a collection of Milton Erickson's therapeutic metaphors, so when Sydney Rosen raises his hand at a NYSEPH meeting, you can be sure people respond.

Susan called on him. "Yes, Sydney?"

"How do you know?" was his somewhat vague question.

"I beg your pardon?"

"How do you know that it was the direct suggestion that did the trick and not your beautiful and rich metaphor? Just because his conscious mind found it agreeable to hear those words doesn't mean that his unconscious mind didn't create the healing based on your metaphor. I mean, how would you know?"

Susan had to agree. (Wouldn't you?)

Dr. Dave Dobson once said that what we are, as therapists, is pebble kickers. When we're doing therapy with someone, we're like some person standing on top of a mountain kicking pebbles. Many times, maybe most times, these pebbles don't make too much of an impact. Perhaps they'll just skitter down the slope a bit and stop.

But every now and again one of those pebbles will kick off some accumulated pebbles, and they'll collectively kick over some rocks and they'll kick over some boulders and pretty soon you've changed the whole face of the mountain.

Thing is, you never know which pebble's going do it. You just keep kicking pebbles until you see that the change has taken place.

Dr. Milton Erickson once said, "My learning over the years was that I tried to direct things too much. It took me a long time to let things develop and make use of things as they develop." (Erickson, 1976, pg.267)